Ateliers d'hypnonaissance en février: "Respiration et Relaxation pour l'accouchement"

À la demande de mes élèves de Yoga futurs mamans, j’organise un cycle d’ateliers exceptionnels en février. Ces ateliers vous introduire plusieurs techniques et pratiques de respiration et de relaxation visant à faciliter un accouchement plus apaisé et plus confiant.

Nous pratiquerons des techniques d’hypnonaissance, de Yoga, et de pleine conscience plus en profondeur que lors de mes cours hebdomadaires de yoga prénatal.

A chaque cours je vous expliquerai des pratiques qui vous permettront de vous exercer chez vous pendant la semaine qui suit.

Ces ateliers incluront un mélange de théorie et de pratique autour des hormones du travail et de l’accouchement ; ainsi que les exercices qui les facilitent !

Inscrivez vous par mail: parisdoula@gmail.com

**Ces ateliers ne sont que pour les femmes et seront engseigné en français. Si vous voulez suivre mes cours d’hypnonaissance ‘classique’ en couples, et en anglais, voyez ici : www.doulaparis.com/group-courses/**

La méditation du sourire, pour bien se préparer à l’accouchement!

La méditation du sourire, pour bien se préparer à l’accouchement  

Dans mes cours de yoga prénatal ces dernières semaines on a pratiqué la méditation du sourire, qui vise à cultiver la gratitude. C’est l’un de mes exercices de respiration préférés pour bien se préparer à l’accouchement, tout en étant très utile dans le postnatal!

On n’a même pas besoin d’être enceinte pour tirer bénéfice de cette pratique… tout le monde peut en profiter!

Cette méditation consiste à visualiser une image du sourire qui d’abord commence au ciel et qui traverse tout votre corps.

C’est une méditation de gratitude qui permet de cultiver les sensations de remerciement, bien-être, chaleur et compassion.

Pourquoi faire cette méditation pendant la grossesse? A quoi sert-elle ?

On peut utiliser ce type de visualisation qui accompagne les respirations ‘pleine conscience’ pour bien se préparer à l’accouchement, pendant le travail même, et aussi après l’accouchement dans la période postnatale, pour se remonter le moral.

Rappelez vous aussi que le simple fait de sourire (oui ! même pendant le travail et l’accouchement !) permet de stimuler les hormones d’endorphines et d’ocytocine - et tant mieux si vous pouvez même rire, ce qui produit encore plus d’ocytocine ! 

L’ocytocine est l’hormone qui facilite les contractions de l’utérus pendant le travail, et qui rend le travail plus efficace et rapide, si elle se secrète en abondance.  Les endorphines sont les hormones naturelles ‘antidouleur’ ou de confort que votre corps produit naturellement pendant le travail s’il est dans un état de relâchement et de calme…

La visualisation d’images paisibles et agréables (en complément de l’ancrage aux sensations de respiration) permet de rester concentrée et calme pendant le travail et d’attacher votre attention au moment présent, dans ce qui est en train d’arriver dans votre corps. Cela vous aide à rester calme, présente, consciente et à éviter les peurs. Cela facilite un travail et accouchement plus serein, efficace et confortable, en étant véritablement connectée dans le flux du travail.

La pratique

Vous pouvez écouter un mp3 (gratuit !) d’une méditation du sourire que j’ai enregistrée pendant un des mes cours de yoga prénatal ici

On commence d’abord par bien s’installer confortablement pour la méditation, se connecter avec le rythme et les sensations de respiration.  Puis, on imagine doucement, l’image d’un ciel bleu et vaste.

Ensuite on imagine la forme d’un sourire qui apparaît progressivement dans le ciel, et qui se diffuse dans le ciel tout en entier.

Puis on imagine la forme d’un sourire qui apparaît sur vos paupières, et on reste connecté à cette image pendant quelques respirations. Ensuite, l’image du sourire descend à votre bouche, puis votre gorge, vos épaules, votre cœur, votre poitrine, votre abdomen et dernièrement sur votre bassin…

Lorsqu’on arrive à l’abdomen (pour celles qui sont enceintes), on peut rajouter l’image du sourire qui enveloppe votre bébé dans votre utérus, et qui berce votre bébé.  On peut aussi imaginer un sourire qui apparaît quelque part sur le corps de votre bébé…sur sa bouche ou autre part sur son corps.

La deuxième partie de la méditation de la gratitude consiste à mettre vos mains (une main sur votre cœur et une main sur votre utérus/votre bébé) et de ressentir quelque chose pour laquelle vous avez de la gratitude :

Il peut s’agir de la gratitude pour cette grossesse même, la gratitude pour votre corps qui a nourri et gardé votre bébé à l’abri, la gratitude pour quelqu’un qui vous a soutenu ou inspiré pendant cette grossesse. Ou même de la gratitude pour quelque chose ou quelqu’un dans votre vie en général.

Au cours de cette méditation on reste conscient des sensations de respiration, et on prête attention aux sensations qui sont produites dans votre corps grâce à cette visualisation du sourire qui traverse progressivement l’ensemble de votre corps. Ressentez les sensations, vos réactions, et vos émotions face à ces images.  Revenez souvent à votre respiration et à la sensation de respiration ! 

Enjoy!!!

Nouveau cours de Yoga prénatal/ New prenatal Yoga class

*Scroll down to read this message in English*

Suite à une forte demande, j’ai ajouté un créneaux supplémantaire pour mes cours de Yoga prénatal à Paris: 

Lundi après-midi, 17:00 à 18:15.
Cité Popincourt, Paris 11ème.

Ne tardez pas trop à vous inscrire; les places se remplissent vite! Inscription par mail: parisdoula@gmail.com

Belle semaine à tous!
Jodi

**Regardez mes blogs ici pour plus d’info sur le yoga prénatal**
www.doulaparis.com/yoga-prenatal/

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Due to popular demand I've added an additional prenatal yoga class to my timetable:

Monday afternoons: 17:00 to 18:15
Cité Popincourt, Paris 11ème.

Sign up quick as places fill up quickly!
email to register: parisdoula@gmail.com
Jodi

Gentle is the New Strong: What antenatal preparation has to learn from the Slow Yoga Revolution

Fighting with our 'selves'

How about if we all slowed down, took one step backwards, and BREATHED - Like really breathed?

How about if instead of always going to max capacity - always pushing ourselves to 100% - we tried out going to simply 60 or 80%, and see what that feel’s like?

And what if, instead of constantly reaching for something better, striving to be something or somewhere else, we stopped - still - and explored what’s already here, NOW?

Perhaps, maybe, in this slowness, this stillness – this space inbetween ‘being here’ and ‘getting there,’ we might actually learnt to love ourselves, and appreciate life,  a little bit more -  TODAY?

This is the philosophy that informs J.Brown’s Yoga School in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and I had the pleasure of practicing with J and some of his teachers at the Abhyasa Yoga Centre whilst I was visiting New York last week. His flexible, authentic, approach really rang true with me and the space I found in his classes helped to illuminate and consolidate some of my recent ponderings on the direction that the birth preparation world is going in.

For those of you who don’t know already, I’m currently working on a new and fruity antenatal programme with one of my best mates and (about to be) PhD-level Midwife, Julia Clark aka @birthupnorth. We’re trying to pin-down what’s a bit lacklustre in the birth prep world and create something more punchy, modern and authentic, that really speaks to the millenial Mamma.

What’s Yoga got to do with it ? Learning from The Slow Yoga movement.

J.Brown’s approach is part of what some are calling ‘the slow yoga revolution.’ Rather than any constant striving or pushing for external goals outside of our current experience, J’s practice method is about focussing on what’s here, in our present experience, using Yoga to appreciate and enjoy life today.

His teachings can be broadly summed up by his «gentle is the new advanced» philosophy, which seeks to shift the focus of Yoga to a breath-centred practice, helping us to truly slow down and take care of ourselves. 

Sounds good right ? And it is – that’s the thing.  It really DOES make you feel truly excellent.

So it got my juices flowing on how we might bring some of these principles to birth preparation, in an attempt to make it a bit more ‘gentle’ and realistic too.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘GENTLE?’

« The idea of having to ‘get there’ IS the problem…that creates this idea of lack.  Trying to ‘find something’ implies that you don’t already have that something that you’re looking for’ *[1]»

By gentle I mean kind, tender, loving, compassionate, humane… lenient, understanding.  I don’t mean meek or docile or delicate, in the flowery, whimpy sense.

A gentle approach shifts away from this cycle of harming ourselves and each other. It allows you to feel how you actually feel – in all it’s complexity – and not how you should feel or should be instead (if only you were better and a bit more like Deliciously Ella or some other chick on instagram that looks like she constantly seeps Joy out of her tits).

In acknowledging what is actually here, we send love, acceptance and compassion to all of that. Experiencing our thoughts, feelings, and sensations as they are ; accepting them into our current experience rather than perpetually running from or avoiding them.

Writ large, this constant pattern of pushing and tugging with reality simply perpetuates a cycle of not good enough or ‘not there yet’ where we persistently feel that our present experience is insufficient or incomplete, that we are somehow not yet good enough or lacking.

So what about a more gentle and realistic approach to pregnancy and birth ? An approach that’s based on the acceptance of reality as it is, and focused on – as J puts it - « simply feeling better and enjoying life today ? »

Flow of ideas & inspiration following J's class!  The slow yoga movement shebang is not new to me, but J's class flicked a switch and got my thinking about how we could apply this all to birth.

Hold your horses, or WHOA MAMMA : the slow or ‘gentle’ approach

I think the question we are really asking ourselves here is what does loving & accepting ourselves –as we are - really look like?  And more specifically - how would this manifest in pregnancy ?

All of these bigger, better, faster, stronger impulses are essentially rooted in self-dissatisfaction, or a dissatisfaction with the way things actually are, right now.

It comes from this mentality that we somehow have to push past something, to get ‘there.’ And this usually involves some form of concerted, strenuous effort, or even harm and self-sacrifice. It’s what J refers to as « the other side of the line. » This image of ‘there’ being some idealised version of reality nirvana whereby if we can only get to the other side of that line we might FINALLY feel better and start loving ourselves more fully.

Except we all know that this never happens, and that once we get to the other side of that line we simply start drafting out new lines, to achieve and conquer instead…

SO here’s the lightbulb : I think pregnancy and birth runs the risk of being just another part of this destabilising, erratic line-drawing process. We draw out a line for a ‘natural’ birth or a certain, particular, idealised image of how pregnancy ‘should be’ and of course we invariably fall short of it. And then we suffer .

Unless, we STOP, still, now and switch to an entirely different frequency.  And I think that’s where the gentle approach has something to offer...                                                                                                        

Experiencing Pregnancy TODAY : integrating reality

 « What would it be like, if I could experience each moment of pregnancy, each stage of this new experience….with astonishment… or wonder…or awe ? »[2]

My concern with the antenatal world, im momento, is that we’ve all become a little bit overly-obsessed and blinkered by the birth.  It’s hypno-birth, active-birth, mindful-birth, positive-birth…birth birth birth birth birth. 

But there’s also a whole 9 month precursor to that all important birth (which we call pregnancy in case anyone’s forgotten). And I’m not denying the significance of birth, but what I do see – increasingly - is this tendancy for women to spend much of their pregnancy entirely consumed by the anticipation – and often anxiety – of realising this fixed, future reality of their perfect birth. 

In reality - there’s a whole lot more in-between.  Within this 9 months - each and every minute -  lie hundred and thousands of tiny, unique micro-miracle happening , day by day,  and I think it’s a real shame for us to miss even some of that.

Because, that focus on the birth experience is in the future, often the way distance future. Again it is this tendancy for grappling to be ‘on the other side of the line.’ Feeding into the idea that where you are now is not quite where you want to be.

Writ large the ‘I need to be over there’ philosophy prevents you from enjoying and appreciating your life and pregnancy TODAY. It prevents you from seeing what’s good and enriching about YOUR life TODAY. Equally, it prevents us from making the time&space to nourish and accept what’s difficult or challenging for us, right now. 

A gentle paradigm for life makes for a gentle paradigm for birth

Here’s the juicy bit : By building this gentle, responsive, and realistic approach to pregnancy, I think we also build the foundations for a more dynamic, flexible and realistic approach to birth too. The two are entirely complementary, and the same mindset then gradually seeps into the postnatal period; facing the realities of new motherhood gently and realistically as well.

The self that meets it's self – the constantly oscillating range of emotions and sensations day to day during pregnancy - with kindness, love and understanding, is the self that also encounters the wide range of sensations and emotions during labour and meets them too with tenderness and understanding, acceptance and curiosity too (Equally, it is the self that could eventually feel the urge for an epidural during labour and meet that with understanding and acceptance as well).

Further, it is the self that can meet the undpredictable and unknowable behaviours of a newborn baby with greater understanding, compassion, and patience...

Seen from this angle, pregnancy is, in fact,  a continuum, whereby the gentle and flexible mindset you cultivate during pregancy – and life itself – eventually manifests itself in the same way during birth and beyond.

In short – the more intimately you learn to meet your daily experience gently, and with love, now, the greater your capacity to meet your birth, your baby, and your experience of new motherhood with love and undertanding too. 

Isn’t this just like Hypnobirthing or Mindfulness?

« there was no seperation between their meditation practice and their labour experience. They were in a dynamic relationship to the birthing process as it unfolded, moment by moment.  Like the dancer who is one with the dance, their birthing became their meditation practice. »                    Nancy Bardacke, Mindful Birthing

Well yeah, it kind of is.  But it’s also more than that.  It’s more dynamic, integrative, and complex than that : because – well – women are more changable & complex than that. And pregnant women are definitely so much more complex than that !

Some people say that hypnobirthing is actually a ‘mindful’ approach, but having taught hypnobirthing and experienced its effects I honestly don’t believe it is.  I think it’s a first step towards mindfulness but I don’t think it goes all of the way.  In a sense, I think we need to mix the two – and then throw in some other flavours and spices for good measure.

For me, hypnobirthing just cherry picked a few of the most essential aspects of yoga and meditation practice and bottled them up and branded them as a kind of crash diet for positive birth.  But you can trace the roots of both of these schools  into a much deeper and more profound practice of ancient philosophy and « ways of knowing .»  

The danger I see with some of these hypnobirthing ‘post-it’ style affirmations is that they can sell you an image of how you should feel, and they can ignore what’s actually happening now.   If you’re not flexible – or gentle - about the way you use them, they risk to perpetuate this cycle of the illusionary future, this pattern of always needing to somehow be or feel something outside of what or where you are now.  In contrast, mindfulness focusses on what’s actually here, in this moment.  

Mindfuless is simply a ‘waking up’ to the essence of life as it is, now.  An appreciation and a care for the present moment, cultivated through paying attention, without judgement.                  

Nadia Rafat sums up the difference between a mindfulness approach and other birth preparation schools beautifully in her article here.

No Pain no Gain : How is gentle, STONG ?

At the Abhyasa Yoga Centre, Brooklyn, NYC after one of J.Brown's classes.

The disatisfied mind will inevitably asks itself, of the gentle approach: is this enough? If I’m not pushing myself, punishing myself, stuggling, striving for something that’s outside of my current experience: Am I lazy ? Am I ‘getting anywhere? Is this enough ? 

And my answer to all of you, pregnant or not is this :

Where you are – TODAY – is OK

Who you are- TODAY – is OK

How things are – TODAY – is OK

What you are -ALREADY – is enough

«Everything is perfect and exactly as it should be » in the word’s of my Kriya Yoga Teacher Shibendu Lahiri:                    

Here’s the switch that flicked when I reflected on the gentle approach : I think our definition of ‘STRONG’ has been utterly contorted, and we all got a little bit confused.

What about if our strength actually comes in the form of tenderness, compassion and a kind of poetic beauty that slowly, and gently uncovers each day of pregnancy – whatever it might throw at us – with understanding and acceptance, until one day we finally unwrap birth in exactly the same way.

You see, birth is like christmas, and pregnancy is like the whole month of December.  If you focus your attention too much on christmas day, you’ll miss the magic of the lights, and the tinsel and the mystical wonder of the stories we tell to children about Santa….and you might actually forget the presents, or the present altogether.

Going back to our 'selves': You are already strong

TRUE LOVE, compassion and kindness seeps into everything , starting with yourself.

Here’s what I think : I think women are made to give birth. Or more specifically I think women’s bodies are made to give birth.  We’ve just all become so wildly confused about that because we’ve been SO long submerged in this virtual reality of bigger, better, faster, stronger.

So I suggest that our strength, is actually rooted in this gentleness.  Because women ARE stong.  But we are a different kind of strong to the ‘virtual reality’ we’ve been sold. We are stong because we are tender, compassionate, and kind. 

It’s by paying attention to that, cultivating that, wiring our brains to use that as our default ‘action and reaction’ that we get stronger. Not by somehow mentally or physically ‘pumping iron’ as it were.  It’s by cultivating this gentle approach – to ourselves – that we tap into our utmost strength.

It’s not about becoming anything.  It’s about cutting through these layers of virtual reality that we’ve been sold; that we need to be tougher, better, something other than oursleves, as we are.

Because in reality, you are already strong, you are F**cking Strong. 

My darling, open your eyes to the dazzling reality of that which you already ARE; you are entirely, and unshakably POTENT.

[1] [2] Drawing from J.Brown’s podcast with Mathew Remski, ‘The heart of Yoga.’  www.jbrownyoga.com/yoga-talks-podcast/

Positive Birth Paris & Summer Updates

Last night we had the Positive Birth Movement Paris Summer Picnic at Jardin Place des Vosges in Le Marais!  I need to check with Milli (at the Positive Birth HQ) but I think this could actually qualify as THE most chic location for a Positive Birth Movement meeting ever ; )

It was a glorious summer evening and we were blessed to have 2 brand new mums, Hollie & Ash, with us, who have both had very positive birth experiences in Paris recently!  Both had very speedy and straightforward waterbirths in Paris in June, and it was so wonderful to hear their empowering birth stories!

My hope is that the PBM group will continue to be a forum where mums, and mums-to-be in Paris can come together to share their positive birth experiences! It's also a great opportunity to share information and ideas, spreading & promoting even more positivity and confidence about birth in Paris!

When I first moved to Paris I heard a lot of negativity around birth here but I really want to spread the message that birth here can be really positive and empowering - if couples prepare well and chose the right caregivers!

Another PBM meeting regular, Anna, who did a Hypnobirthing course with me and prenatal Yoga with Sharon Bales, also had a wonderful physiological birth this month too! Hopefully Anna will be at the next PBM meeting in September to share her very positive birth story as well!

Both Hollie & Ash did Hypnobirthing courses and prenatal Yoga classes with me, during their pregnancies, and they were both SO well prepared, in mind, body and spirit for their physiological births!  Well done Hollie & Ash  - you're an inspiration!!!  

Summer Updates:

Positive Birth Movement : 

There will be no Positive Birth Movement meeting in August!  The next one will be Thursday 22nd September and the theme/topic for this meeting will be "The last days of pregnancy" (celebrating this time, coping with it, issues around induction, etc)

Prenatal Yoga Classes:

My last prenatal Yoga class before summer vacation will be this Tuesday evening (30th August) at Cité Popincourt, Paris 11ème.  

Classes will resume 'à la rentrée' on Tuesday 6th September.  More info on prenatal yoga here: www.doulaparis.com/prenatal-yoga-classes/

Hypnobirthing Group Classes

My next Hypnobirthing Group Course will be on Sunday 18th & Sunday 25th September.  There is still space left for one more couple on this course (I only take a maximum of 4 couples per group)

There will be no hypnobirthing group in October, dates for November Hypnobirthing Group tbc soon.

More info on Hypnobirthing group courses here: www.doulaparis.com/group-courses/

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Wishing you all a wonderful Summer and looking forward to seeing you all in September 'à la rentrée!'!

Love Jodi  (parisdoula@gmail.com)

For more updates on events & classes in Paris as well as TONNES of other useful info on pregnancy and birth, please like my Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/DoulaParis/

Saying YES to Birth: Saying YES to Life

What if we weren’t afraid any more? Then what would birth look like?

What if women really weren’t afraid –I mean really not afraid- then what would birth look like ?

What if Midwives, too,  weren’t afraid any more– then what would birth look like ?

What if our doctors, sisters, friends – even our hypnobirthing teachers & Doulas -  weren’t afraid either - then what would birth look like ?

What if we were no longer afraid of Ourselves ? Afraid of our Bodies, Our emotions, our behaviours, our fears even….

What if we were no longer ashamed – then what would birth look like?

These are all quesions myself & my good friend - and fellow Midwife –Julia Clark (@birthupnorth) are asking ourselves, right now: What would a totally new vision of birth look like? 

What if we were really honest with ourselves – then what would birth look like ?

Birth has been so entrenched in FEAR for so long, that I honestly think we’re not quite sure.       SO we have to dip deep.

We have to start asking ourselves some pretty uncomfortable questions : facing our Egos and examining our own deceptions.  

In other words we have MAN UP (or WO-MAN UP?)

What if we were all truly liberated – then what would birth look like ?

Women are still gagged – from truly expressing themselves physically, emotionally and spitirually – they are gagged & ashamed of following & expressing their instincts & desires. 

And the big questions is :if you don’t listen to you instincts –then what the hell do you listen to ? And if you can’t follow your own personal truth, your heart’s desires….that what DO you follow ?

What about if « I trust my body » was more than just an affirmation you wrote on a post-it note and stuck on your fridge ? – then what would birth look like ?

Here’s the thing : I think we do have the answers.  I think we really do, but I think it lies below layers and layers of bullshit that we have been feeding ourselves and each other for decades…

 There’s so much superficial bullshit going around the birth circuit that it’s totally blinding women to the real work they need to do -  on themselves.

The birth world has become a crazy fuzz of posting, and re-posting catch-phrases….And  YOU CAN’T REVOLUTIONISE BIRTH by posting and re-posting a F**CKING Quote by Ina May. 

It’s a good start, It’s really good start…But surely you have to reach down – inside of yourself- and find the place where that quote came from in Ina May herself– that deep & soulful place - and find where it lives in YOU.

Because otherwise we will all keep living in this superficial land of « let’s make birth better » and nothing really changes, not really…

Nothing will change for our daughters or our grand-daughter, or our great-great grandaughters because we will just keep passing on the same lies & fear on to them too.

UNLESS WE MAKE A STAND  - NOW.

What if we totally owned it ? Then what would birth look like ?

I was recently having a beer with Julia in Leeds and mulling over my predicament about setting up as a independent Midwife in Paris :

ME: “I’m just cautious, reticent, not scared- but…”

Julia: “Sounds to me like you are scared… it’s ok to be scared…”

ME: “I’m not scared, it’s just I don’t know all the medical systems & protocols here, and it will take time…maybe it’s better if I start by working in a hospital first...”

JULIA: “Sounds to me like you’re scared…everyone gets scared – even when we simply change to a new hospital ‘trust’ within the UK, we get scared. ”

ME: “You’re right, I’m scared, it’s normal to be scared.”

You see: I was scared of admitting I was scared.

When I owned up to what I had to overcome – I felt much less powerless…And this is where I started to feel like we were on to something: Some of the answers must truly lie, in absolutely owning it.

So WHERE DO WE START ?  A BASIC PRINCIPLE I learnt from Godfrey Devreaux

Godrey is well know in the yoga world for calling BULLSHIT on pretty much everything. 

He rips the entire notion of ‘enlightenment’ and ‘spirituality’ to pieces…. And he also says the F word, a lot…. 

Godrey shines a very bright light on the years on years of deceptions and marketing ploys that have infested the yoga world, and made what is essentiallly a loving and enlightening practice  – into something completely vacuous and even malignant.

I think we need to do the same with the birth world.  I think that we started with something really really beautiful and heartfelt and authentic with the likes of Ina May, Sheila Kitzinger, and Francoise Freedman…but somehow it all got lost in a pseudo-spiritual quagmire….

Firstly – there are No ‘Guru’s : there is only you. There is only you, yourself, and your own free will.

This is the revolutionary act: you are your own Guru. And if you’re not, then nobody is, and then you’re just an idiot reading somebody else’s empty words from a post-it note.

Saying yes to life : saying yes to birth

I went to a talk with Godfrey Devreaux at the Red Earth Centre in Paris last week, and in this particular ‘lecture’ (he definitely wouldn’t call it a lecture!) Godfrey was discussing the notion that life has 2 basic instincts : ON / OFF, YES/NO, ENGAGE/RETREAT…

Whatever you name them, they are both manifestations of the 2 very simple human behaviours, that are at the basis of all life : our ability to either actively engage with life or to escape and retreat from it.

How can we apply this notion to Birth ?

It’s in this idea of « engaging or retreating » that I think we could really shake up birth, and I’m beggining to experiment with it in my Prenatal Yoga & Hypnobirthing work….

Summed up simply, it can be expressed as « SAYING YES TO LIFE »  

SAYING YES TO LIFE IS ESSENTIALLY SAYING YES TO EVERYTHING, EVEN TO FEAR.

It’s about saying yes to all of it : and not being scared to LIVE and FEEL and EXPERIENCE -  all of it.  Or as my mindfullness teacher « Ayala Gill » puts it : Welcoming life : Welcoming eveything.

Saying yes to all of our emotions : good, bad, gentle, tough…and accepting them all as a a necessary & inevitable part of life’s rich tapestry….

Because if we don’t say YES – if don’t welcome them ALL -  then we are in a constant state of ‘NO’ or RETREAT – a perpetual state of rejection, deception, escape and avoidance…fear.

This brings us full loop back to my initial questions :

What if we weren’t afraid, ashamed, gagged, to feel – experience – and act? What if we weren’t afraid to really Love- ourselves, each other – and life???  Then What Would Birth Look Like ?

I think it would look like LOTS of women running round the street shouting YES YES YES to everything -  like some kind of crazed state of perpetual orgasm ! 

Godfrey leaves me – US - with this interesting question, that I feel could sew the seeds of something revolutionary in birth, and it’s this:

WHEN WE SAY YES TO LIFE – really say yes to life - DO WE NOT ALSO SAY YES TO BIRTH ? 

Arteliers d'Hypnonaissance: les bases

Pourquoi pratiquer les techniques d'auto-hypnose?

"Le connaissance « incorporée » de la relaxation et du calme est indispensable pour une grossesse et accouchement plus serein, doux et sain. Plus serein et libre…

Dans la relaxation profonde on pars dans un état de ‘transe’ et c’est là où on a accès au subconscient : on peut profiter de cet état pour y "planter" les associations de confiance et d'assurance, par rapport à la grossesse et l’accouchement."

How to Hypnobirth: Explaining Hypnobirthing to your mates

A picture says a thousand words...

« It all sounds perfectly logical » - that’s the response I generally get after  explaining the physiology and psychology of Hypnobirthing to Dads.

Ask those Papas to then re-explain to me how it all works and they can kind of clam up.

Voilà, why I came up with this very simple info-graphic on Hypnobirthing Hormones.

Hypnobirthing really is very simple – almost TOO simple : once you’ve got your head around these few basic factors you should be able to explain Hypnobirthing to virtually anybody!

It Really Is ALL ABOUT OXYTOCIN

Oxytocin is what causes uterine contractions or ‘surges’ in labour.  Keep the oxytocin flowing and you’ve cracked it. 

Great ! How do we do that ? 

Simple : 1. know how and when oxytocin is produced

                2. know what INHIBITS oxytocin

Oxytocin in a Nutshell

Oxytocin is produced when we feel safe, secure, protected, relaxed. In short, when we don’t feel under threat. 

Conversely, when we feel FEAR - both real or anticipated – we produce adrenaline, which inhibits Oxytocin production.

Understanding & promoting Oxytocin is the absolute cornerstone of encouraging physiological birth, and FEAR is Oyxtocin’s arch enemy. 

That’s pretty much all you need to know to get started.

Calm + Confidence – Fear = OXYTOCIN PARTY     = beautiful birth

This is why during hypnobirthing courses we learn some very effective and simple techniques to promote deep relaxation, and transform subconscious fears into positive and confident feeling about birth. TA DAAA !

Add the PROTECTION element and you’re laughing – literally.

SInce we know Oxytocin is produced when women fell SAFE, SECURE and PROTECTED, Birth Partners  can play a vital role in ‘protecting’ their partner during labour, by promoting an environment of relaxation, calm and safety.

This is why Hypnobirthing courses highlight to Dads how their role as ‘protector’ is absolutely crucial, and how they can powerfully protect the labour environment through their actions and behaviour.

This weekend I was at a Doula conference in Paris with the old Oxytocin Icon Michel Odent, who was hammering home this vital aspect of physiological birth.

Michel Odent at the Doulas de France conference this weekend: "How can we protect the labouring woman?"

What Mr Odent also adds to the mix is that when women’s ‘rational brain’ is overstimulated during labour, it can interupt the flow of oxytocin, and therefore the flow of labour.

Essentially : Stimulation of the rational brain (what he refers to as the neocortex) can bring women out of their ‘primitive brain ;’ their fundamental primal instincts which assist a simple and swift birth.

MONSIEUR ODENT SAYS :

Q : The key word is « PROTECTION » How can we protect the labouring women?

A :  Minimise  any stimulation the ‘neo-cortex’ or the ‘thinking brain.’

Q : So How do we do that ?

A : Think about Lights, Language, The Unfamiliar – or feeling ‘observed’

Without going into too much detail, what Monsieur Odent is basically telling us is that careful use of language is pivotal to supporting a ‘undisturbed’ physiological birth.  Any other factors such as bright lights, feeling observed or being in an unfamiliar or unsafe environment will inhibit the flow of oxytocin.

Great ! SO that’s why in Hypnobirthing we heavily emphasise the careful use of language during labour, and other ways in which partners can protecter the birthing environment !  We also explore how we can divert any ‘rational’ questions to Dadsso they can be the ‘BRAINS’ during labour, protecting the birthing woman to stay in her positive birth bubble and connected to her primal instincts.

SIMPLE RIGHT ?

Hopefully this begins to explain just how excellent Oyxytocin is -  and why hypnobirthing is wonderfully adapted to teach women and their partners how to optimise Oxytocin during labour – resulting in a swift, simple and peaceful birth!

And if you have already done a hypnobirthing course you should now be able to go away and explain all of this to your friends and family by using my magic diagram !

I’ve mainly focussed on Oxytocin in this post as it is the vital ingredient  (if you keep Oxytocin flowing then everything else follows)…. you can read more about other hormones such as Adrenaline and Endorphins in any hypnobirthing book or in my other blogposts here :

Hypnobirthing teachers : please feel free to use this diagram in your teaching or re-create a similar one -  I’ve found it really useful & effective.

Hope you all have a great week!

Jodi

These precious first moments : positive birth & the first hour

Last night we had our second Positive Birth Movement Paris meeting! 

The theme for the May group meeting was : « The first hour after birth » 

One woman shared with us her beautiful memory of her first baby’s breast crawl immmediately following birth : how amazed she was that – when left undisturbed - her baby knew exactly what to do and latched on straight away.  The whole group shared in the awe of how miraculous it is to see a Baby’s first instincts at play.

Another member of the group described how important it had been for her to avoid any routine separation from her baby in the first hours following the birth « I just wanted my baby to be with me : I needed to see where she was all the time.» This is something she had anticipated  before the birth of her baby and so she ensured that she would be supported with this at her maternity hospital « Les Bluets» where any routine examinations were delayed until after she had bonded with her baby.

These heart-felt accounts re-enforced just how precious the first hour following birth is to women & their babies, and therefore how important it is for health care professionals to disturb women and their babies as little as possible during the first hour – and indeed hours –after birth.

In my own training as a Midwife I was taught - and indeed tested!  - on the importance of delaying any routine examinations and separation until after mum and baby have had the chance to have skin-to-skin and to bond.

However, so often in the busy hubbub of hospital life there is an imperative to quickly weigh and measure the baby, and get the new mum down to the postnatal ward within a couple of hours of birth, to free up the labour room for someone else.

Sometimes it feels there is no space, there is no time for these precious moment to be fully given the importance and respect they are due.

It’s something that I think we can all reflect upon, both as mother’s and as health care professionals.  Whilst there are clearly times in hospitals when labour wards are very busy and there is a genuine need to move women down to the postnatal ward-  freeing up a labour ward bed for another women who is waiting for it – there are not always these time imperatives.

It’s thus important to question routine ‘systems’ that have been blindly respected because « that’s the way we do it » and find creative solution to respect & protect the sacred first moments in a baby's and a new mother’s life.

In short – putting women and babies at the centre of care and not the needs or assumed needs of the hospital ‘system,’ and thinking of new ways of re-structure our ‘routines.’

More generally, it’s about listening to what women are telling us is important for them and important for their babies, and adapting our care as much as possible to accommodate this: Building systems of care around women and babies – and not woman & babies around systems.

Undoubtedly this would all be simpler to facilitate with more hospital resources and more midwives – but that’s another story for another day.

Back to the positive birth meeting… In our conversations around the « power hour » we also explored delayed cord clamping, what are the benefits and how does it work in practice - including thinking about how this could be best negotiated for twin births.

Most of the group were amazed to realise that it is simply a question of delaying clamping & cutting the cord for just a few minutes – and it has such massive benefits to baby!  But again this comes back to potentially unexamined hospital routines, and therefore it’s important to speak to care providers in advance, to discuss your preference around this.

For more info on delayed cord clamping take a look at Amanda Burleigh’s page « Optimal cord clamping » www.facebook.com/Optimal-Cord-Clamping-WaitforWhite-414578291919270/?fref=ts

There are numerous other FB forums on this important topic such as this one: www.facebook.com/delayedcordclamping 

Beyond the 'power hour' discussions our conversations last night moved onto all kinds of other birth-related subjects and sharing lots of great local events that are taking place for the "Semaine mondiale de l'accouchement respecté" in Paris next week.

The great thing about the positive birth meetings are that the flow of discussion is open and spontaneous, so conversation is free to go in any direction it takes us...I feel like this lack of rigid structure allows what is important to the group – at that moment - to come out, and what the group really needs at that time to emerge…

For me, personally, I had just arrived back in Paris the night before the meeting, after a lovely long week spent at home back in the North of England.  Transitioning back into city life after a whole week or glorious nourishing countryside air, and being at ‘home’ with family and friend, is always a bit of a physical and emotional leap.  So for me, last night, I simply enjoyed being in an open and supportive women’s space – enjoying the laughter and the passion - of women working together towards something important for women.